The News-Herald. [volume] (Hillsboro, Highland Co., Ohio) 1886-1973, 1887-09-22

MAKING CIGARS.
sGo ON THKrn lrANUFACTURE
XOT CENTRALLY KNOWN.
~ oeaess- Farmen ssy it 10 the Hard
y - An Crops b Raise Three Branches
&I Ne Trade and the Hands Employed.
Gan ass universally smoked In this
oey, and beyond the fact that they
mAde Of tobacco, little attention is
~ % the kind Of tobacco or the inter.
1ng processes Of their manufacture. 1t
40 Of the idosyncrasies, too, of human
6nrs that every person who smokes
lnke himself Judge of the tobacco he
emoking. Whether he is or not, this
oolo will demonstrate, as cigars will
& ~ 6eBcribed from the time the leaf comes
- from the ground till the cigar reaches
80 consumer.
CONTRARY to general belief, domes.
cigars are made Of tobacco en-.
~ grown north Of Mason and
exon's line. Cigar tobacco, as 1t is
1I1od, differs from its brother Southern
xrf 1ogshead tobacco in that it does not
1o1tain % much nicotine and is lighter
I'D thinner leaf. This is technically
ogned seed leaf, or Havana seed leaf, If
~ seed from which it grows is of Span
- attraction. Attempts have been made
- fsshion cigars out of Maryland, vir-
~ and Kentucky tobacco, but they
S1oso too rank to be smoked with any sat-
4 ltAction. A kind of cigar is very popu-
~ n certain sections of the country
mCwn - Wheeling stogies or Pittsburg
t6blee. These are made from Southern
4 - hOgshead tobacco, soaked until all the
4 Nicotine is. washed out of it and then
( roughly rolled into long, thin shape of
cylindrical form to resemble a cigar.
Wheeling is the headquarters of this in.
eustry while Pittsburg furnishes q great
many tobies of the kind described, which
aso smoked and enjoyed alike by the
millionaire mill-owner and the humble
factory hand.
Cigar tobacco is grown in the follow
lng States: Vermont, New Hampshire,
Massachusetts, Wisconsin, New York,
Indiana and Illinois. Connecticut fur
nished in 1885 10000 cases of what is
oommercially known as Connecticut to-
bacco, but some of which was grown in
Massachusetts,, Vermont and New Hamp-
shire; Pennsylvania about 10000 cases !;
New York about 10, 900 cases Ohio about
< S6,O00 cases, and Northern Indiana,
Northern Illinois and Wisconsin
= Wisconsin tobacco-from %, 900 to 3d.
go cases. This year, as last, the drouth or
( some other cause played the mischief with
( ~ tobacco crops in Wisconsin, Illinois,
indiana and Pennsylvania. In 1885 the
Z fsnnsylvanis tobacco amounted to "a, 900
eascs, while the Wisconsin tobacco crop
= the same year amounted to 10000
I oases. The cases contain an average
y weight Of 826 pounds of leaf tobacco.
\ Figuring up the crop of last year, it will
y seen that there were about 100000
eaees Of 825 pounds each In weight. As
/ . case yields on an average $4,000 cigars,
\ ~ product Of 1885, if worked up into
Il Sllgars. would yield 2,4OO, 100000. The
4. Internal revenue returns for that year
Hhow that $500, ,000, 900 cigars were man.
j sfactursd; hence the discrepancy was
nade up Of imported tobacco from Cuba
g and the Island of Sumatra.
Farmers who raise cigar tobacco say it
Z = ths hardest crop Of all to make grow,
md ths most exhausting of the SOIL
Prom the time the seed 10 sown till it is
ready TO be delivered to the wholesale
loaf-tobacco merchant, unremitting care
i and painstaking labor must be the cigar
tobacco cultivator's portion. The seed,
smaller than mustard seed, is first sown
z Dromiscuously in the field or bed. When
= begins to appear above the ground the
& plants are set out about two feet apart; the
Z I'D, when the tobacco plants are set out,
looking like patch Of cabbage or corn.
s Constant watchfulness Is then needed to
keep away worms, whose rsvages are
\ sid TO destroy in . single night q fine
4 I'D Of tobacco. Suckers, or offshoots
y q the plant, must be taken away, the
i porsnt stalk needing all the sustenance
~ hin Of earth can give It. Constant
I Aosing Of the earth about the plants
poots h indispensable. Topping COM
nsnces abput the time the plant is going
S - seed and the farmer must keep .
J Na1chful eye about this time for atmos.
Dhsric changes. The plants on no account
nnst b nipped by frosts. The building
\ = gigantic fires 10 frequently necessary,
Z ~ smoke Of which waiting through the
plants destroys any deleterious effect of
! = cool or frosty atmosphere. The tobacco
D1ant grows quickly, and 1t Is allowed
: - Stand until 1t reaches maturity, but If
lBost threatens, 1t is at once cut close to
~ ground. The farmer then ties two
Z Sails together and throws 1t over poles,
tops downward, in his barn, which he has
M made for the purpose. His watch
talness must not now relax, for dangers of